The CW's The Flash TV show fires actor Harley Sawyer, who plays Ralph Dibny aka Elongated Man, after racist and misogynistic tweets surface. Sawyer joined The Flash in season 4, playing the ex-cop turned private investigator Ralph Dibny who becomes a member of Team Flash. Sawyer was promoted to series regular starting with season 5 and remained part of the main cast in season 6.
In The Flash season 6, Ralph's storyline dealt with him tracking down Sue Dearbon, based on the character of Sue Dibny, Elongated Man's wife, in the DC comics. The Flash season 6 was shortened due to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down production on the series, which meant the season concluded three episodes earlier than originally planned. However, when The Flash season 7 premieres, Sawyer won't be returning as Ralph.
THR is reporting The Flash has fired Sawyer after racist and misogynistic tweets surfaced online. The CW, The Flash production companies Warner Bros. TV and Berlanti Productions and executive producer Eric Wallace released a statement:
Hartley Sawyer will not be returning for season seven of The Flash. In regards to Mr. Sawyer's posts on social media, we do not tolerate derogatory remarks that target any race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation. Such remarks are antithetical to our values and polices, which strive and evolve to promote a safe, inclusive and productive environment for our workforce.
Over the last two weeks, Sawyer's tweets surfaced and made the rounds online. Among those are one from 2012 that stated, "The only thing keeping me from doing mildly racist tweets is the knowledge that Al Sharpton would never stop complaining about me," and others from 2012-2014 that state, "Enjoyed a secret boob viewing at an audition today," "If I had a wife I would beat the hell out of her tonight lol," and "Date rape myself so I don't have to masturbate." On May 30, Sawyer issued an apology on his Instagram, writing, "I am incredibly sorry, ashamed and disappointed in myself for my ignorance back then. I want to be very clear: this is not reflective of what I think or who I am now." Sawyer's Twitter has since been deleted.
There is, of course, precedence of actors being fired from TV shows for their tweets. In 2018, ABC cancelled Roseanne after star Roseanne Barr tweeted racist remarks. The network went on to develop and air a spinoff, The Connors, without the actress. However, those were more modern tweets, whereas Sawyer's are 6-8 years old, and he issued an apology. The situation may, on its surface, be more comparable to James Gunn being fired from Guardians of the Galaxy 3. But in that case, Gunn had apologized for his tweets on more than one occasion prior to his firing, and the outrage over those old tweets was an intended attack meant to harm the director for his progressive views. Because of the intent behind the outrage, and the fact that Gunn had shown remorse and growth in the time since original tweets, Disney rehired him.
Regardless of Sawyer's apology and the amount of time that's passed since his tweets were originally posted, The CW and The Flash producers have felt compelled to fire the actor ahead of season 7. There are certainly fans of the show who are heartened to see the producers' response to Sawyer's tweets, since it affirms their desire to distance themselves from the hurtful words and beliefs in Sawyer's old tweets. As of now, it's unclear how The Flash will move forward with Ralph Dibny in season 7, whether the show will recast the character or write him out of the show. Fellow Arrowverse series Batwoman is currently casting a new character to take over the cape and cowl from Ruby Rose's Kate Kane after the actress left the show. This is undoubtedly a different situation, since Rose was the face of the show and Dibny is a more minor member of the main cast. The Flash TV show's plans going forward will hopefully be made clear in the coming days.
Source: THR, themirrorin6x17/Twitter, Hartley Sawyer/Instagram